Systems and methods for generating and displaying hierarchical search results

ABSTRACT

Embodiments include a computer-implemented method that includes receiving a search query, processing the search query to identify a set of search results, determining that the set of search results includes a parent search result corresponding to a parent entity, in response to determining that the set of search results includes a parent search result, identifying a set of child search results including one or more child search results that correspond to entities that are children of the parent entity, and providing a hierarchical search results list for display. The hierarchical search results list including a first listing of search results corresponding to the set of search results, and a second listing of search results corresponding to the set of child search results. The second listing to be displayed in hierarchical relation to a search result corresponding to the parent search result.

PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/557,136 filed on Nov. 8, 2011 and titled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR GENERATING AND DISPLAYING HIERARCHICAL SEARCH RESULTS”, thedisclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of this invention relate generally to search industries and,more particularly to special purpose machines, systems, methods andcomputer instructions for providing listings of results indicative of ahierarchical relationship.

2. Description of the Related Art

Users employ Internet searches to locate and identify information on theInternet. For example, a user may visit an Internet search-website andsubmit a web-search query for the keyword “shopping” in anticipation ofreceiving a listing of webpages or other resources related to“shopping”. These types of searches help users quickly and easily findinformation on the Internet.

When a user submits a web-search query, a search engine identifiessearch results that relate to the search query and provides the searchresults for display to the user. For example, upon the user submitting aweb-search query for the term “shopping”, the search engine mayreference an index to identify web pages that include content related to“shopping”, and provide a listing of the identified web pages fordisplay to the user. Similar listing of results may be provided in othercontext, such as map-based searches, user check-in locations and thelike. Unfortunately, traditional listings of results provide a limitedamount of information about the displayed search results. For example, aset of search results may include a simple ranked listing that providesno indication of relationships between the search results.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments of methods and apparatus for providing listings ofresults indicative of a hierarchical relationship are provided herein.In some embodiments, provided is a computer-implemented method thatincludes receiving a search query, processing the search query toidentify a set of search results, determining, using a computer, thatthe set of search results includes a parent search result correspondingto a parent entity, in response to determining that the set of searchresults includes a parent search result corresponding to a parententity, identifying a set of child search results including one or morechild search results that correspond to entities that are children ofthe parent entity, and providing a hierarchical search results list fordisplay. The hierarchical search results list including a first listingof search results corresponding to the set of search results and asecond listing of search results corresponding to the set of childsearch results. The second listing to be displayed in hierarchicalrelation to a displayed search result corresponding to the parent searchresult of the set of search results.

In some embodiments, provided is a computer system including one or morememories storing instructions and one or more processors coupled to theone or more memories and executing the instructions stored thereon inorder to perform the following steps: receiving a search query,processing the search query to identify a set of search results,determining that the set of search results includes a parent searchresult corresponding to a parent entity, in response to determining thatthe set of search results includes a parent search result correspondingto a parent entity, identifying a set of child search results includingone or more child search results that correspond to entities that arechildren of the parent entity, and providing a hierarchical searchresults list for display. The hierarchical search results list includinga first listing of search results corresponding to the set of searchresults and a second listing of search results corresponding to the setof child search results. The second listing to be displayed inhierarchical relation to a displayed search result corresponding to theparent search result of the set of search results.

In some embodiments, provided is a non-transitory computer readablestorage medium having computer-executable program instructions storedthereon that are executable by a computer to cause receiving a searchquery, processing the search query to identify a set of search results,determining that the set of search results includes a parent searchresult corresponding to a parent entity, in response to determining thatthe set of search results includes a parent search result correspondingto a parent entity, identifying a set of child search results includingone or more child search results that correspond to entities that arechildren of the parent entity, and providing a hierarchical searchresults list for display. The hierarchical search results list includinga first listing of search results corresponding to the set of searchresults and a second listing of search results corresponding to the setof child search results. The second listing to be displayed inhierarchical relation to a displayed search result corresponding to theparent search result of the set of search results.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of generating ahierarchical index in accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent technique.

FIG. 2 illustrates a database table in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of grouping entitiesbased on classifications in accordance with one or more embodiments ofthe preset technique.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of grouping entitiesbased on keywords or phrases in the descriptor of the entities inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the preset technique.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of grouping entitiesbased on addresses in accordance with one or more embodiments of thepresent technique.

FIG. 6 is a diagram that illustrates a geographic mapping of geometriesand locations in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presenttechnique.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of grouping candidateparent entities with candidate child entities in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of identifyinghierarchical relationships between entities of groupings in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 9 is a table that illustrates an exemplary grouping in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary updated database table including anindication of identified hierarchical relationships in accordance withone or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary hierarchical index including anindication of identified hierarchical relationships in accordance withone or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary webpage including search results inaccordance with known prior art techniques.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of processing a searchquery in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presenttechnique.

FIG. 14 is a table that illustrates an exemplary set of search resultsin accordance with one or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 15 is a table that illustrates an exemplary set of child searchresults in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presenttechnique.

FIG. 16 is a table that illustrates an exemplary set of hierarchicalsearch results in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presenttechnique.

FIGS. 17 and 18 illustrate exemplary search results webpages inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart that illustrates a method of displaying content(e.g., a bubble) with hierarchical results in accordance with one ormore embodiments of the present technique.

FIGS. 20A and 20B illustrate exemplary place pages in accordance withone or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 21 depicts an exemplary check-in page including a hierarchicallyordered listing of results displayed via an access device in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 22 is a diagram that illustrates a query system in accordance withone or more embodiments of the present technique.

FIG. 23 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary computer system inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the present technique.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As discussed in more detail below, provided are embodiments of systemsand methods for identifying hierarchical relationships and displayinglistings of results corresponding to the hierarchical relationshipsidentified.

In some embodiments, identifying hierarchical relationships includesidentifying parent-child hierarchical relationships between variousentities. For example, in the context of a shopping center and storeslocated within the shopping center, the shopping center and stores maybe identified as having a parent-child hierarchical relationship, withthe shopping center being identified as a “parent” of the stores locatedwithin the shopping center. In certain embodiments, the hierarchicalrelationships are determined by mining a database of entities andinformation associated therewith. For example, a database that includesentries relating to “The Shopping Center” and the stores located within“The Shopping Center” may be analyzed (“mined”) to identify theparent-child hierarchical relationships between “The Shopping Center”and the stores located within “The Shopping Center”. As is discussed inmore detail below, in some embodiments, hierarchical relationshipsbetween entities are established based on various characteristics andfeatures of the entities. For example, hierarchical relationships may bebased on the entities' addresses, descriptors (e.g., titles/names),locations, geometries, user interactions with web pages corresponding tothe entities, or the like.

In some embodiments, additional techniques are employed to assist inidentifying hierarchical relationships between entities. For example,entities that are considered to be more likely to have hierarchicalrelationships may be grouped together, and the entities within eachgrouping may be compared to one another to identify hierarchicalrelationships between members of the grouping. For example, entitieshaving a classification of “shopping mall” may be grouped with otherentities have a classification of “store” based on a determination thatentities of the classifications “shopping mall” and “store” are likelyto have hierarchical relationships with one another. The groupedentities, such as those having classifications of “shopping mall” and“store” may, then, be compared to one another to identify hierarchicalrelationships there between. As discussed in more detail below,groupings of entities may be based on entity types/classifications,addresses, descriptors, locations, geometries, or the like. It isexpected that such groupings may increase the efficiency with whichhierarchical relationships are identified by at least reducingcomparisons of unrelated entities. For example, groupings may eliminatethe comparison of a shopping mall in California with a river in thestate of New York. Accordingly, hierarchical relationships may be minedmore efficiently by eliminating, or at least reducing, burdensomeprocessing that may take place if every entity of a database werecompared to every other entity of the database.

In some embodiments, a process of identifying hierarchical relationshipsbetween entities includes identifying a set of entities for comparison,grouping related entities, identifying (“mining”) hierarchicalrelationships between the entities of the groupings, and generating anindex indicative of the hierarchical relationships identified. Forexample, a database of entities may be identified, the entities may beplaced into groupings based on common attributes (e.g., entitytypes/classifications, addresses, descriptors, locations, geometries, orthe like), entities within the groups may be compared to determinewhether or not hierarchical relationships exists, and the databaseand/or a separate hierarchical index may be generated/updated to reflectthe hierarchical relationships identified.

Hierarchical relationships, such as those identified using techniquesdescribed herein, may be employed for various uses including, forexample, determining how listings of results are displayed to users. Forexample, where a set of search results includes a result for “TheShopping Center” (a parent result), the search results displayed to theuser may include child search results corresponding to “Dave'sElectronics”, “The Suit Store”, and other stores located within “TheShopping Center” that are displayed in an indented listing immediatelybelow the search result for “The Shopping Center”. As a further example,where a list of results includes parent and/or child results, the listof results may be reordered such that the displayed listing of resultsincludes the parent results listed ahead of (i.e., above) the childresults. As yet another example, the hierarchical relationships may beemployed for identifying child/parent content to be displayed within awebpage. For example, a place page for “The Shopping Center” may includea listing of “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, and other storeslocated within “The Shopping Center”.

A parent entity may include an entity (e.g., a shopping center) havingone or more other subordinate entities (e.g., stores) that arephysically or logically a part of the entity. A child entity may includea subordinate entity (e.g., store) that is physically or logically apart of the parent entity (e.g., a shopping center). A given entity maybe subordinate to some entities while being superior to other entities(i.e., an entity may be both of a child and a parent entity). In achild-parent hierarchy, the parent (e.g., the shopping center) may bereferred to as residing at first/higher-hierarchy level, and thechildren (e.g., the stores located in the shopping center) may bereferred to as residing at a second/lower-hierarchy level that isimmediately below the hierarchical level of the parent. Similarhierarchical relationships may be provided in other contexts, such as auniversity (e.g., the parent) and departments within the university(e.g., the children), a department store (e.g., the parent) anddepartments within the department store (e.g., the children) and soforth. Hierarchical relationships can span multiple levels. For example,a grand-parent/grand-child hierarchical relationship or the like mayexist between entities.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 100 ofgenerating a hierarchical index. Method 100 may generally includeidentifying an entity set, grouping entities of the entity set,identifying hierarchical relationships between entities of the of thegroupings, and generating a hierarchical index indicative of thehierarchical relationships identified.

Method 100 may include identifying an entity set as depicted at block102. In some embodiments, identifying an entity set includes identifyinga collection of entities and/or data corresponding thereto. For example,identifying an entity set may include identifying a plurality ofdatasets of an entity database table.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary entity database table (“table”) 200.Table 200 includes a plurality of entries 202 that each correspond to agiven entity (e.g., “Palo Alto Shopping Center”, “The Shopping Center”,“The Shop”, and so forth). An entity may include a thing having adistinct existence. For example, an entity may include an electronicdocument (e.g., a webpage or file), a person, a geographic object (e.g.,a street, a residence, a place of business, a landmark, a park, apolitical entity (e.g., a city, a county, a state, a country), ageographic feature (e.g., lake, river, mountain), or the like. Table 200may represent a search engine database table/index that is searchable toidentify entries/entities that are related to a query. In someembodiments, table 200 may include hierarchical information for entitiessuch that the database table is, or is otherwise capable of serving as,a hierarchical index that can be analyzed to identify hierarchicalrelationships (e.g., parent-child relationships) between entities. Table200 may be created or maintained by a search provider or other entity.Table 200 may include entries having information extracted from orotherwise derived from a search engine database. For example, table 200may include an indexed listing of entities generated based on crawlingof Internet websites. In some embodiments, each of the entries maycorrespond to a given entity and may include information correspondingto the given entity. In some embodiments, table 200 may be modified overtime to reflect new information that is received or otherwiseidentified. For example, entries 202 may be created as new entities areidentified and/or existing entries 202 may be modified as newinformation relating to the entities is received.

Each entry 202 may include an identifier 204, a descriptor 206, aclassification 208, geometry 210, a location 212, an address 214,associated children 216, associated parents 218 and/or other informationrelated to the entity, such as a URL Address for a webpage for theentity. Identifier 204 may include a unique identifier that is used todistinguish a given entry 202 from other entries of table 200.Descriptor 206 may specify a name/title or other descriptive informationassociated with the corresponding entity. Classification 208 may specifyor otherwise be indicative of a type/classification associated with thecorresponding entity.

Entities may be assigned one or more classifications. For example,entities that corresponds to shopping malls (e.g., “The ShoppingCenter”, “Palo Alto Mall”, etc.) may be assigned classifications of“shopping_center”, entities that corresponds to stores (e.g., “Dave'sElectronics”, “The Suit Store”, “The Clothing Connection”, etc.) may beassigned classifications of “store”, entities that correspondsuniversities (e.g., “The University”, “State University”, etc.) may beassigned a classification of “university”, entities that corresponds toa department within a university (e.g., “The University College ofEngineering” and “State University College of Medicine”) may be assigneda classification of “university_department”, and so forth.

Geometry 210 may specify or otherwise be indicative of a geometryassociated with the corresponding entity. Geometry 210 may represent aset of one or more points and/or lines defining a geometry correspondingto the entity. For example, the geometry “G1” may define a polygoncorresponding to a geographic perimeter/boundary of the “Palo AltoShopping Center”.

Location 212 may specify or otherwise be indicative of a geographiclocation associated with the corresponding entity. Location 212 mayrepresent a set of geographic coordinates (e.g., longitude and latitudecoordinates) or other information defining one or more geographiclocations corresponding to the entity. For example, the location “L1”may define geographic coordinates corresponding to a location of the“Palo Alto Shopping Center”.

Address 214 may specify or otherwise be indicative of aphysical/geographic address associated with the corresponding entity.For a given entry 202, children 216 may include a listing of one or moreidentifiers corresponding to entities that are children of the entitycorresponding to the given entry. For a given entry 202, parents 218 mayinclude a listing of one or more identifiers 204 corresponding toentities that are parents of the entity corresponding to the givenentry. Exemplary populated listings of children 216 and parents 218 aredepicted and discussed in more detail with regard to at least FIGS. 10and 11.

Grouping:

Method 100 may include grouping entities of the entity set, as depictedat block 104. In some embodiments, grouping entities of the entity setincludes identifying entities of the entity set that are considered tobe more likely to have hierarchical relationships there between, andgrouping those entities together. In some embodiments, groupings ofentities are based on various features of the entities, such asclassifications, addresses, descriptors, locations, geometries, or thelike.

Grouping Based on Classification:

In some embodiments, entities are grouped together based on a predefinedparent-child hierarchical relationship between classifications. Aclassification hierarchical relationship may identify two or moreclassifications of entities that should be grouped together. Forexample, a classification hierarchical relationship may specify“shopping_center-store” indicating that entities having a classificationof “shopping_center” should be grouped with entities having aclassification of “store”. In some embodiments, a classificationhierarchical relationship may be defined based on classifications ofentities that are likely to have a hierarchical relationship therebetween. For example, classification hierarchical relationship mayinclude “shopping_center-store” based on stores being likely children ofshopping centers. Other examples of classification hierarchicalrelationships may include “university-university_department”,“hospital-hospital_department”, “city-street” and so forth. In someembodiments, a classification hierarchical relationship may beindicative of a relationship between the specified categories. Forexample, the “shopping_center-store” classification hierarchicalrelationship may indicative of the “shopping center” being a parentclassification and “store” being a child classification. Such arelationship may be referred to as a parent-child classificationhierarchical relationship.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 300 ofgrouping entities based on classifications. Method 300 may includeidentifying a classification hierarchical relationship, as depicted atblock 302. In some embodiments, identifying a classificationhierarchical relationship includes identifying a predefined parent-childhierarchical relationship, such as “shopping_center-store”,“university-university_department”, “hospital-hospital_department”,“city-street” or the like.

Method 300 may include grouping entities based on the classificationhierarchical relationship, as depicted at block 304. In someembodiments, entities that fall in either of the parent classificationor the child classification of the parent-child hierarchicalrelationship may be added to the same grouping. For example, with regardto the “shopping_center-store” parent-child hierarchical relationshipand table 200 of FIG. 2, “Palo Alto Shopping Center”, “The ShoppingCenter” and “Palo Alto Mall” may be added to a grouping based on theirclassifications of “shopping_center” and “The Shop”, “ClothingConnection”, “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store” and “ABC DepartmentStore” may be added to the grouping based on their classifications of“store”. Similar groupings may be generated based on the otherhierarchical relationships (e.g., “university-university_department”,“hospital-hospital_department”, “city-street” or the like).

Grouping Based on Keywords of Entity Descriptors:

In some embodiments, entities are associated with a classification basedon keywords or phrases in their descriptors. For example, where theclassification of “shopping_center” is associated with the keywords“shopping center”, “mall”, “shopping mall”, and the like, the entitiestitled “Palo Alto Shopping Center”, “The Shopping Center”, “Palo AltoMall”, “The Shopping Center Food Court” and “The Shopping Center Drive”may be associated with the classification of “shopping_center” based oneach of their descriptors including the keywords “shopping center”,“mall”, and/or “shopping mall”. As a further example, where theclassification of “store” is associated with the keywords “store”,“shop” and the like, the entities entitled “The Shop” and “The SuitStore” may be associated with the classification of “store” based oneach of their descriptors including the keywords “store” and/or “shop”.In some embodiments, matches between descriptors (e.g., titles/names)and keywords may be based on comparisons of a normalized version of thedescriptor with a normalized version of one or more keywords. Forexample, the descriptor of “Palo Alto Shopping Center” may be determinedto include the keyword “shopping center” based on the normalizeddescriptor of “palo_alto_shopping_center” including the normalizedkeyword of “shopping_center”.

In some embodiments, the entities that are associated with aclassification are grouped with entities associated with otherclassifications based on a classification hierarchical relationship. Forexample, with regard to the “shopping_center-store” classificationhierarchical relationship, a grouping may include “Palo Alto ShoppingCenter”, “The Shopping Center”, “Palo Alto Mall”, “The Shopping CenterFood Court”, “The Shopping Center Drive”, “The Shop” and/or “The SuitStore” based on each of their descriptors including keywords associatedwith the classifications of “shopping_center” or “store”. Similargroupings may be generated based on the other classificationhierarchical relationships such as “university-university_department”,“hospital-hospital_department”, “city-street” and so forth.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 400 ofgrouping entities based on keywords in entity descriptors. Method 400may include identifying keywords associated with classifications, asdepicted at block 402. In some embodiments, identifying keywordsassociated with classifications includes retrieving or otherwiseobtaining a list of one or more terms and/or phrases associated withgiven classifications. For example, identifying keywords associated withthe classification of “shopping_center” may include retrieving a listingof the keywords “shopping center”, “mall”, “shopping mall”, and thelike.

Method 400 may include identifying a classification hierarchicalrelationship, as depicted at block 404. In some embodiments, identifyinga classification hierarchical relationship is similar to that describedabove with regard to at least block 302 of method 300. Method 400 mayinclude grouping entities based on the identified keywords and theclassification hierarchical relationship, as depicted at block 406. Forexample, with regard to the “shopping_center-store” classificationhierarchical relationship the “Palo Alto Shopping Center”, “The ShoppingCenter”, “Palo Alto Mall”, “The Shopping Center Food Court”, “TheShopping Center Drive”, “The Shop” and “The Suit Store” may be groupedtogether based on each of their descriptors including keywordsassociated with the classifications of “shopping_center” and/or “store”,as discussed above.

A set of keywords associated with a classification may be identifiedbased on an initial set of keywords (“seed keywords”) that areassociated with the classification. In some embodiments, a set of seedkeywords is associated with a classification, a set of entitydescriptors that contain one or more of the seed keywords areidentified, and the words contained in the entity descriptors areassessed to identify other keywords that should be associated with theclassification, and the other keywords are added to the set of keywordsassociated with the classification. Thus, for example, a small set ofseed keywords associated with the classification can be used to identifyan expanded set of keywords that may not have an apparent associationwith the classification.

In an exemplary embodiment, the keywords “hospital” and “medical center”are identified as seed keywords for the classification of “hospital”.The seed keywords may be identified based on their well-knownassociation with hospitals and similar medical entities. A database ofentities may then be assessed to identify a subset of the entitieshaving entity descriptors that include the seed keywords “hospital” or“medical center” in their descriptor. The subset of entities may bereferred to as a seed entity set. In some embodiments, the process ofidentifying entities with descriptors that include the seed keywords isaided by comparing normalized versions of the seed keywords and theentity descriptors. For example, the seed-keyword “hospital” may benormalized to “-hospit-” and the entity descriptor “ShrinersHospitals—Children” may be normalized to “-shriner-hospit-children-”.The entity descriptor “Shriners Hospitals—Children” may be considered toinclude the seed keyword “hospital” based on the text of the normalizeddescriptor of “-shriner-hospit-children-” including the normalized textof “-hospit-”. In some embodiments, a seed entity set is generated foreach of the seed keywords. For example, a first seed entity set may begenerated that includes entities having the term “hospital” in theirdescriptor and a first seed entity set may be generated that includesentities having the term “medical center” in their descriptor. Each ofthe seed entity sets may be assessed to identify other keywords thatoccur in the descriptors of the entities of the seed entity sets. Insome embodiments, the descriptors of the entities of a given seed entityset may be processed to generate a seed keyword list that includes allof the words/phrases contained in the descriptors of the entities of thegiven seed-entity-set.

In some embodiments, the seed-keyword-list includes N-grams (e.g.,uni-grams, bi-grams and tri-grams) indicative of all combinations ofone, two or three consecutive words in the descriptors. For example, theentity descriptor “Shriners Hospitals—Children” may be broken into theuni-grams “Shriners”, “Hospitals” and “Children”, the bi-grams “ShrinersHospitals” and “Hospitals Children”, and the tri-gram “ShrinersHospitals Children”. The seed keyword list for a given seed entity setmay include some or all of the N-grams contained in all of thedescriptors of the entities of the seed entity set. In some embodiments,certain words/phrases are filtered/removed from the seed-keyword-list.For example, common words and/or phrases, such as “a”, “and”, “the”, andso forth, may be excluded/removed from the seed keywords list using astop-word list or tf-idf filtering technique.

In some embodiments, the words/phrases/n-grams of a seed-keyword-listmay be ranked based on the number of times they appear in theseed-keyword-list. For example, a word/phrase/n-gram that occurs tentimes in the seed-keyword-list may be ranked above a word/phrase/n-gramthat occurs nine times in the seed-keyword-list, and so forth. In someembodiments, a count for an N-gram may be associated with a normalizedversion of the given N-gram having the highest number of occurrences.For example where the normalized text “medical center” occurs onehundred fifty times and the text “medical centers” occurs sixty times ina seed keyword set, such that the stemmed N-gram “-medic-center-” occursa total of two hundred ten times in the seed keyword set, a count of twohundred ten may be associated with “medical center” as it is thenormalized text having the highest number of occurrences. In someembodiments, a filtered/ranked seed keyword list is subjected to manualreview. Such review may enable a person to manually review and removewords/phrases from the seed-keyword-list.

In some embodiments, a ranked/filtered seed keyword list is generatedfor each of the seed keywords. For example, a ranked/filtered seedkeyword list may be generated for each of “hospital”, “medical center”,“hotel”, “motel” and so forth. In some embodiments, seed keyword listscorresponding to seed keywords that are associated with a givenclassification are merged into a single expanded seed keyword list thatis associated with the given classification. For example, where theclassification of “hospital” is associated with the seed keywords“hospital” and “medical center”, the ranked/filtered seed keyword listfor the seed keyword “hospital” may be merged/combined with theranked/filtered seed keyword list for the seed keyword “medical center”to generate a single expanded seed keyword list for the classificationof “hospital”. As a further example, where the classification ofhospital “hotel” is associated with the seed keywords “hotel” and“motel”, the ranked/filtered seed keyword list for the seed keyword“hotel” may be merged with the ranked/filtered seed keyword list for theseed keyword “motel” to generate a single expanded seed keyword list forthe classification of “hotel”. Accordingly, a comprehensive listing ofwords/phrases associated with a given classification can be generatedbased on a relatively small number of seed keywords initially identifiedas being associated with the classification.

Grouping Based on Address:

In some embodiments, grouping entities includes grouping entities basedon addresses. For example, entities having the same or similar addressmay be grouped together. In some embodiments, the addresses used forcomparisons may include normalized addresses. For example, “The ShoppingCenter”, “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store”and “The Shopping Center Food Court” may be grouped together based oneach of the entities having an address in table 200 that corresponds tothe normalized address of “1-the_shopping_center-palo_alto-ca-94034-us”.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 500 ofgrouping entities based on addresses. Method 500 may include normalizingentity addresses, as depicted at block 502. In some embodiments,normalizing entity addresses includes normalizing the address of some orall of the entities of the entity set identified at block 102. Forexample, normalizing address may include normalizing addresses 208 ofsome or all of the entities of table 200. Normalizing addresses mayinclude converting the addresses to a standard format that includesstreet number, street name, city, state, zip-code, country code or thelike, all lowercase letters, an underscore in place of spaces, and adash separating different fields of the address and so forth. Forexample, the address of “1 The Shopping Center Palo Alto, Calif. 94034,US” may be normalized to “1-the_shopping_center-palo_alto-ca-94034-us”,the address “234 Main Street, Palo Alto, Calif., 94034, US” may benormalized to “234-main_street-palo_alto-ca-94034-us”, and so forth.

Method 500 may include grouping entities based on normalized addresses,as depicted at block 504. Grouping entities based on normalizedaddresses may include adding entities with the same or similarnormalized addresses to the same group. For example, “The ShoppingCenter”, “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store”and “The Shopping Center Food Court” may be grouped together based oneach of the entities have the same normalized address of“1-the_shopping_center-palo_alto-ca-94034-us”.

Grouping Based on Candidate Parent Entity:

In some embodiments, grouping entities includes identifying candidateparent entities and grouping candidate child entities with one or morecorresponding parent entities. Such a technique may result in groups ofentities that each includes one or more candidate parent entities andone or more candidate child entities. A given entity may be identifiedas a candidate parent entity based on one or more characteristics of theentity (e.g., a classification, geometry, descriptor, or the like) andmay be grouped with other entities having characteristics indicative ofthem being children of the candidate parent entity (e.g., a descriptorthat includes the descriptor of the candidate parent entity, a locationproximate to the location of the candidate parent entity, a locationcontained by a geometry of the candidate parent entity, or the like).

Identifying Candidate Parent Entities:

In some embodiments, candidate parent entities are identified based oncharacteristics of the entity, such as a classification that isassociated with a parent entity (e.g., shopping center, university,hospital, or the like), a geometry that is that is associated with aparent entity (e.g., a geometry that includes a polygon/area), and/or adescriptor including keywords associated with a parent entity (e.g.,“shopping center”, “mall”, “shopping mall”, and the like).

For example, each of “Palo Alto Shopping Center”, “The Shopping Center”and “Palo Alto Mall” may be identified as candidate parent entitiesbased on their classification of “shopping_center”, each of “TheUniversity” and “State University” may be identified as candidate parententities based on their classification of “university”, and each of “TheHospital” and “Palo Alto Hospital” may be identified as candidate parententities based on their classification of “hospital”. In someembodiments, entities having categories that correspond to a childentity (e.g., “store”, “university_department” and so forth) are notidentified as a candidate parent entity.

As a further example, where geometries “G1”, “G2”, “G4”, “G10”, “G13”,“G15” and “G18” are indicative of geometries including a polygon (e.g.,representative of a geographic area), each of “Palo Alto ShoppingCenter”, “The Shopping Center”, “Palo Alto Mall”, “The University”,“State University”. “The Hospital” and “Palo Alto Hospital”, may beidentified as candidate parent entities based on their geometriesincluding a polygon. In some embodiments, entities having geometriesthat correspond to a child entity (e.g., a geographic point, a line, orthe like) are not identified as a candidate parent entity.

As a further example, where the keywords/phrases of “shopping center”,“mall”, “shopping mall” are identified as being associated with a parententity, each of “Palo Alto Shopping Center”, “The Shopping Center” and“Palo Alto Mall” may be identified as candidate parent entities based ontheir descriptors including the keywords “shopping center”, “mall”, or“shopping mall”.

In some embodiments, one or more entities (“candidate child entities”)are grouped with candidate parent entities based on each of the entitieshaving characteristics indicative of a parent-child relationship betweenthe entity and the candidate parent entity. Thus, each resultinggrouping may include a candidate parent entity and one or more candidatechild entities. In some embodiments, the candidate parent entity for agiven grouping may be compared to each of the candidate child entitieswithin the grouping to determine whether a hierarchical relationshipexists between the candidate parent entity and any of the candidatechild entities as discussed in more detail below with regard to at leastmethod 800 of FIG. 8.

Grouping Based on Descriptor:

In some embodiments, an entity is grouped with a candidate parent entityif the entity has a descriptor that includes the descriptor of thecandidate parent entity. For example, where “The Shopping Center” isidentified as a candidate parent entity, “The Shopping Center FoodCourt” may be grouped with “The Shopping Center” as a candidate childentity based on the descriptor “The Shopping Center Food Court”including the substring of “The Shopping Center”. As a further example,candidate child entities titled “The University College of Engineering”and “Admissions Office: The University” may be grouped with candidateparent entity “The University” based on their descriptors including thesubstring of “The University”. In some embodiments, the descriptors usedfor comparisons include normalized descriptors. For example, “TheShopping Center Food Court” may be grouped with “The Shopping Center”based on its normalized descriptor “the_shopping_center_food_court”including the substring “the_shopping_center”.

In some embodiments, entities are matched to candidate parent entitydescriptors based on prefix matching. For example, the candidatedescriptor string “The University College of Engineering” may be matchedto the descriptor string “The University” based on the prefix of thecandidate descriptor string (i.e., the beginning of the descriptorstring) including the substring of “The University”. In someembodiments, entities are matched to parent entity descriptors based onsuffix matching. For example, the candidate descriptor string“Admissions Office: The University” may be matched to the descriptorstring “The University” based on the suffix of the candidate descriptorstring (i.e., the end of the descriptor sting) including the substring“The University”. In some embodiments, a candidate descriptor string ismatched to the descriptor string having the longest match (e.g., thegreatest number of matching words or characters). For example, wherecandidate parent entities include “The University” and “The UniversityCollege”, the candidate descriptor string “The University College ofEngineering” may be matched to “The University College” based on thematch including three words (or twenty-two characters/spaces) as opposedto two words (or thirteen characters/spaces) that match with “TheUniversity”. As a result, the “The University College of Engineering”may be grouped with candidate parent entity of “The University College”and may not be grouped with the candidate parent entity of “TheUniversity”. In some embodiments, the comparisons may be based on thenormalized versions of the descriptors.

Grouping Based on Descriptor/Address:

In some embodiments, an entity is grouped with a candidate parent entityif the entity has an address that includes the descriptor of thecandidate parent entity. For example, where “The Shopping Center” isidentified as a candidate parent entity, “The Shopping Center FoodCourt” may be grouped with “The Shopping Center” based on its address of“1 The Shopping Center, Palo Alto, Calif. 94034, US” including thesubstring “The Shopping Center”. In some embodiments the comparisons maybe based on the normalized versions of the descriptors and address.

Grouping Based on Proximity (e.g., Distance/Radius):

In some embodiments, grouping entities includes grouping entities thatare geographical proximate to one another. For example, two or moreentities that are close to one another may be grouped together. In someembodiments, an entity is grouped with a candidate parent entity if theentity has a location that is within a threshold distance (e.g., radius)of the candidate parent entity. For example, referring to FIG. 6(illustrating a geographic mapping 600-of geometries and locations),where a radius 602 of one kilometer (km) is specified, and locations“L3”, “L11” and “L12” are within one kilometer of location “L10”, “TheStore” (having a location of “L3”), “The University College ofEngineering” (having a location of “L11”) and “Admissions Office: TheUniversity” (having a location of “L12”) may be grouped with thecandidate parent entity entitled “The University” (having a location of“L10”) as candidate child entities. In some embodiments, a given entityhaving a parent classification (e.g., university) is grouped with otherentities that are within a given distance (e.g., one kilometer radius)of the given entity and that have a classification (e.g.,university_department) that corresponds to a child of the parentclassification.

Grouping Based on Polygon Geometry:

In some embodiments, an entity is grouped with a candidate parent entityif the entity has a location that is within a geographic area (e.g., apolygon) associated with the candidate parent entity. For example,referring again to FIG. 6, where locations “L11” and “L12” are withinthe polygon associated with “G10”, “The University College ofEngineering” (having a location of “L11”) and “Admissions Office: TheUniversity” (having a location of “L12”) may be grouped with candidateparent entity “The University” (having a geometry of “G10”) as candidatechild entities. In some embodiments, a given entity having a parentclassification is grouped with other entities that are within ageographic area (e.g., within the polygon) associated with the givenentity and that have a classification (e.g., store) that corresponds toa child of the parent classification (e.g., shopping_center).

In some embodiments, any combination of two or more of the abovedescribed techniques may be employed. For example, a candidate parententity may be grouped with other entities having a descriptor thatincludes the descriptor of the candidate parent entity, having anaddress that includes the descriptor of the candidate parent entity,having a location that is within a threshold distance (e.g., a radius)of the candidate parent entity, and/or having a location that is withina geometry (e.g., a polygon) associated with the candidate parententity.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 700 ofgrouping candidate parent entities with candidate child entities. Method700 may include identifying candidate parent entities, as depicted atblock 702. In some embodiments, identifying candidate parent entitiesincludes identifying entities of an entity set (e.g., the entity setidentified at block 102) having a classification that is associated witha parent entity (e.g., shopping center, university, hospital, or thelike), having a geometry that is that is associated with a parent entity(e.g., a geometry that includes a polygon/area), and/or a descriptorincluding keywords associated with a parent entity (e.g., “shoppingcenter”, “mall”, “shopping mall”, and the like). For example, “TheShopping Center” may be identified as a candidate parent entity based onits classification of “shopping_center” and “The University” may beidentified as a candidate parent entity based on its classification of“university”.

Method 700 may include grouping candidate parent entities with candidatechild entities, as depicted at block 704. In some embodiments, acandidate parent entity is grouped with other entities having adescriptor that includes the descriptor of the candidate parent entity,having an address that includes the descriptor of the candidate parententity, having a location that is within a threshold distance (e.g., aradius) of the candidate parent entity, having a location that is withina geometry (e.g., a polygon) associated with the candidate parententity, and/or the like. For example, the candidate parent entity of“The Shopping Center” may be grouped with candidate child entities of“Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “TheShopping Center Food Court” based on each of the candidate child entityaddresses including a substring corresponding to the descriptor of “TheShopping Center”. As a further example, “The University College ofEngineering” and “Admissions Office: The University” may be grouped withcandidate parent entity entitled “The University” based on each of theirlocations being located within a polygon associated with “TheUniversity”.

In some embodiments, the candidate parent entity for a given grouping iscompared to each of the candidate child entities within the grouping todetermine whether hierarchical relationships exist there between. Forexample, “The Shopping Center” may be compared to each of “Dave'sElectronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “The ShoppingCenter Food Court” to determine whether hierarchical relationshipsexists there between. Where multiple groupings including two or moreentities are identified, comparisons may be provided for each of thegroupings such that hierarchical relationships between entities withineach of the groupings are identified. For example, in a second grouping,“The University” may be compared to each of “The University College ofEngineering” and “Admissions Office: The University” to determinewhether hierarchical relationships exists there between.

Hierarchical Relationship Mining:

Method 100 may include identifying hierarchical relationships betweenentities of the grouping, as depicted at block 106. Identifyinghierarchical relationships between entities may be referred to as“hierarchical relationship mining”. As a result of hierarchicalrelationship mining, a parent-child relationship may be identifiedbetween two or more entities. For example, hierarchical relationshipmining may reveal that “The Shopping Center” and “Dave's Electronics”have a parent-child hierarchical relationship (i.e., “The ShoppingCenter” is a parent of “Dave's Electronics” and, thus, “Dave'sElectronics” is a child of “The Shopping Center”). In some embodiments,hierarchical relation mining includes comparing two or more entities toone another to determine whether or not hierarchical relationships existthere between. For example, “The Shopping Center” may be compared to“Dave's Electronics” to determine whether or not a hierarchicalrelationship exists between the two entities.

In some embodiments, each of the entities of a database is compared toeach of the other entities of the database to identify hierarchicalrelationships there between. In some embodiments, hierarchical relationmining includes, for each grouping of two or more entities, comparingthe entities within the grouping to one another to determine whether ornot hierarchical relationships exists there between. In someembodiments, where a candidate parent entity is identified, thecandidate parent entity is compared to each of the candidate childentities, and the candidate child entities may or may not be compared toone another.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 800 ofidentifying hierarchical relationships between entities of groupings.Method 800 may include comparing entity pairs within each of a pluralityof groupings identified to determine whether or not a hierarchicalrelationship exists between the entities. In some embodiments, an entityis only compared with other entities of a grouping to which the entitybelongs, thereby helping to reduce comparisons of the entity toseemingly unrelated entities of an entity set. Although, in someembodiments, method 800 is described with regard to comparing entitieswithin the same groupings, similar techniques may be employed betweenany two entities. For example, the techniques for determining whether ornot a hierarchical relationship exists between two entities may beemployed between any two entities, regardless of whether or not they arein the same grouping or even in a grouping at all. That is entities ofan entity set may be compared to one another using similar techniquesregardless of whether or not the entities have been grouped.

Method 800 may include identifying an entity group, as depicted at block802. Identifying an entity group may include identifying one of theentity groups identified at block 104 of method 100 that has not yetbeen assessed/mined for hierarchal relationships. FIG. 9 is a table thatillustrates an exemplary grouping 900. More specifically, grouping 900includes the entities of “The Shopping Center”, “Dave's Electronics”,“The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “The Shopping Center FoodCourt” which may have been grouped together based on the entities havingthe same or similar normalized address as discussed above.

Method 800 may include identifying an entity pair of an entity group, asdepicted at block 804. Identifying an entity pair of an entity group mayinclude identifying two entities of the grouping (identified at block802) that have not yet been compared. For example, where group 900 isidentified, in a first iteration of step 804, identifying an entity pairof an entity group may include identifying the entity pair of “TheShopping Center” and “Dave's Electronics”.

Method 800 may include determining whether a hierarchical relationshipexists for the entity pair, as depicted at block 806. Determiningwhether a hierarchical relationship exists for the entity pair mayinclude comparing various features/characteristics of the two entities.For example, with regard to the entity pair of “The Shopping Center” and“Dave's Electronics”, various features/characteristics of “The ShoppingCenter” may be compared to various features/characteristics of “Dave'sElectronics”, and a hierarchical relationship, if any, between twoentities may be determined based on the comparisons.

In some embodiments, a first entity may be identified as a parent of asecond entity where the first entity's geometry includes a polygon and ageometry/location associated with the second entity falls within thepolygon. For example, “The Shopping Center” may be identified as aparent of “Dave's Electronics” and “The Suit Store” based on geometries“G6” and “G7” and/or locations “L6” and “L7” falling within a polygondefined by geometry “G2”.

In some embodiments, a first entity may be identified as a parent of asecond entity where the second entity's address contains the entitydescriptor of the first entity. For example, “The Shopping Center” maybe identified as a parent of “Dave's Electronics” and “The Suit Store”based on their normalized addresses of“1-the_shopping_center-palo_alto-ca-94034-us” including the string“the_shopping_center”.

In some embodiments, a first entity may be identified as a parent of asecond entity where the second entity's descriptor contains thedescriptor of the first entity. For example, “The Shopping Center” maybe identified as a parent of “The Shopping Center Food Court” based on anormalized version of its descriptor (e.g.,“the_shopping_center_food_court”) including the string“the_shopping_center”.

In some embodiments, a first entity is identified as a parent of asecond entity where the first entity is associated with a higher numberof impressions (e.g., is the subject of the highest number/frequency ofsearches and/or is displayed in the highest number/frequency of searchresults) than the second entity. For example, “The Shopping Center” maybe identified as a parent of “Dave's Electronics” based on the string“the_shopping_center” being the subject of a higher number/frequency ofuser search queries and/or appearing in a higher number/frequency ofsearch results than the string “daves_electronics”.

In some embodiments, a first entity is identified as a parent of asecond entity where a descriptor of the first entity includes a keywordassociated with a parent entity and the other entity does not. Forexample, “The Shopping Center” may be identified as a parent of “Dave'sElectronics” based on “The Shopping Center” including the “parent”keyword/phrase of “shopping center” within its descriptor and “Dave'sElectronics” not including a “parent” keyword/phrase within itsdescriptor.

In some embodiments, an identification of a hierarchical relationshipbetween entities is based on assessment of an entity graph. An entitygraph may include a plurality of nodes that each correspond to a givenentity. Each node of the entity graph may include one or more nodeattributes that define attributes of the entity. For example, a nodecorresponding to the entity “The Shopping Center” may include nodeattributes such as an entity identifier (e.g., “The Shopping Center”), aphysical address (e.g., “1 The Shopping Center, Palo Alto, Calif. 94034,US”), a geometry (e.g., “G1”) and so forth. Nodes may be connected toother nodes of the entity graph via edges/links. Each of the edges mayconnect two nodes and may be associated with one or more edge attributesthat define a relationship between the two nodes. For example, an edgeattribute may specify that one of the two nodes contains the other ofthe two nodes (e.g., a containment relationship). A hierarchicalrelationship between entities may be determined based on edge attributescorresponding to the entities. For example, it may be determined that“The Shopping Center” is a parent to “Dave's Electronics” based on anedge attribute that indicates the “The Shopping Center” contains “Dave'sElectronics”.

In some embodiments, a determination of whether or not a pair ofentities has a hierarchical relationship is based on single criteria ora combination of two or more criteria. For example, a hierarchicalrelationship between two entities may be based on application ofmultiple criteria and/or weighting of the criteria. Such a technique(i.e., taking into account multiple criteria) may help to provide ahigher level of confidence in a determined hierarchical relationship.

In some embodiments, the determination of whether or not a parent-childhierarchal relationship exists between a given entity and the otherentity being compared is based on one or more of the following exemplaryscoring criteria:

-   -   1) The entity's descriptor (e.g., name/title) is contained in        the address of the other entity;    -   2) The entity's descriptor is contained in the descriptor of the        other entity;    -   3) The entity is associated with a higher number of impressions        (e.g., the subject of a higher number/frequency of searches        and/or is displayed in a higher number/frequency of search        results) than the other entity; and    -   4) The entity includes a parent “keyword” in its descriptor.

Although four exemplary criteria are provided, similar techniques may beused for combinations of any type or number of criteria.

In some embodiments, for the comparison of two entities of an entitypair, each of the entities is scored based on the criteria that itsatisfies. For example, where “The Shopping Center Food Court” isassociated with a higher number of impression than “The ShoppingCenter”, “The Shopping Center Food Court” may receive a total score of“1” for satisfying the third criteria listed above and “The ShoppingCenter” may receive a total score of “3” for satisfying the first,second and fourth criteria listed above. In some embodiments, the entityof the entity pair that receives the highest total score is determinedto be a “parent” to the other entity of the entity pair. For example,“The Shopping Center” may be identified as a parent of “The ShoppingCenter Food Court” based on “The Shopping Center” receiving a highertotal score than “Dave's Electronics”.

In some embodiments, the criteria are weighted to generate a weightedscore. For example, the first criteria may have a value of “1”, thesecond criteria may have a weighted value of “0.7”, the third criteriamay have a weighted value of “0.4”, and the fourth criteria may have aweighted value of “0.4”. Thus, where “The Shopping Center Food Court” isassociated with a higher number of impression than “The ShoppingCenter”, “The Shopping Center Food Court” may receive a total score of“0.4” for satisfying the third criteria and “The Shopping Center” mayreceive a total score of “2.1” for satisfying the first, second andfourth criteria. Accordingly, “The Shopping Center” may be identified asa parent of “The Shopping Center Food Court” based on “The ShoppingCenter” receiving a higher total score than “The Shopping Center FoodCourt”. Criteria that are more indicative of an entity being a parentmay be weighted more heavily than criterion that are less indicative ofan entity being a parent.

In some embodiments, an entity's total score needs to be above athreshold before it is determined that a hierarchical relationshipexists. For example, an entity may be required to have a total score of“2” or greater, in addition to being greater than a total score of theother entity of the entity pair, in order for the entity to bedetermined to be a parent of the other entity. Such embodiment thresholdmay help to ensure that a sufficient amount of criteria has been met toconfidently identify that a hierarchical relationship exists between thetwo entities. Thus, for example, where both of the entities beingcompared have total scores that fall below the threshold, nohierarchical relationship may be identified, regardless of which entityhas a higher total score.

In some embodiments, upon identifying whether a hierarchicalrelationship exists for an entity pair, method 800 may includedetermining whether any un-assessed entity pairs remain, as depicted atblock 808. In some embodiments, determining whether any un-assessedentity pairs remain includes determining whether any entity pairs of thegroup identified at block 802 have not yet been assessed. For example,where only the entity pair of “The Shopping Center” and “The ShoppingCenter Food Court” has been compared, it may be determined that at leastthe entity pairs of “The Shopping Center” and “Dave's Electronics”, “TheShopping Center” and “The Suit Store”, “The Shopping Center” and “ABCDepartment Store”, and so forth have not yet been assessed. Method 800may include returning to block 804 to identify an entity pair (e.g., anun-assessed entity pair of group 900), such as the entity pair of “TheShopping Center” and “The Suit Store”, and conducting a determination ofwhether a hierarchical relationship exists there between in a mannersimilar to that discussed with regard to block 806. Such iterations maycontinue until all of the entity pairs of the group have been assessed.

Upon iterating through comparisons for all of the entity pairs of thatare to be assessed for the currently identified group, method 800 mayinclude determining whether or not an un-assessed group remains. In someembodiments, determining whether any un-assessed group remains includesdetermining whether any groups identified at block 104 have not yet beenassessed. For example, where only group 900 has been assessed, it may bedetermined that at least the group including “The University”, “TheUniversity College of Engineering” and “Admissions Office: TheUniversity” has not yet been assessed, and method 900 may includereturning to block 802, and providing for comparisons of the entities of“The University”, “The University College of Engineering” and“Admissions Office: The University” in a manner similar to thatdiscussed with regard to at least blocks 804 and 806. The iterations maycontinue until all of the groups that are to be assessed, have beenassessed. Accordingly, in some embodiments, the comparison of entitypairs may continue until each of the entity pairs of each of theidentified grouping have been subject to a determination of whether ornot a hierarchical relationship exists there between.

Generate Hierarchical Index:

In some embodiments, hierarchical relationships identified are stored orotherwise recorded. For example, upon identifying hierarchicalrelationships between entities of the grouping (e.g., as discussed withregard to at least block 106 and/or method 800), method 100 may includegenerating a hierarchical index indicative of the hierarchicalrelationships identified, as depicted at block 108 of method 100 of FIG.1.

With regard to at least grouping 900 of FIG. 9, for example, where it isdetermined that “The Shopping Center” is a parent entity to “Dave'sElectronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “The ShoppingCenter Food Court”, a hierarchal index (e.g., a database table, databaseindex, or similar data structure) may be generated that is indicative ofthe hierarchical relationships. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary updateddatabase table 200′, including an indication of identified hierarchicalrelationships. Table 200′ indicates that “The Shopping Center” is aparent of “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC DepartmentStore”, and “The Shopping Center Food Court”, as indicated byidentifiers of “N6”, “N7”, “N8”, and “N9” being listed under childrenfor “The Shopping Center” and/or by the identifier “N2” being listedunder parents for each of “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABCDepartment Store”, and “The Shopping Center Food Court”. FIG. 11illustrates an exemplary hierarchical index 1100 including an indicationof identified hierarchical relationships for at least grouping 900.

Database table 200′ and/or hierarchical index 900 may be stored in adatastore. For example, database table 200′ and/or hierarchical index900 may be stored in a database accessible by a server (e.g., datastore2210 of a server 2202 discussed in more detail below with regard to atleast FIG. 22) for use in identifying hierarchical relationships ofentities. For example, upon identifying a set of search results thatincludes a search result corresponding to the entity “The ShoppingCenter”, database table 200′ or hierarchical index 1100 may be assessedto determine that “The Shopping Center” is a parent entity, and toidentify “Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store”and “The Shopping Center Food Court” as children of “The ShoppingCenter”. A hierarchical listing of search results may be generated anddisplayed that includes a search results for “The Shopping Center”followed by an indented listing of child results for “Dave'sElectronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “The ShoppingCenter Food Court” as discussed herein. Content including similarhierarchical listings of results may be provided in other context, suchas a “place page” for an entity.

Displaying Results Indicative of Hierarchical Relationships:

Existing techniques for providing search results do not appear toinclude at least features of identifying results associated withhierarchical relationships (e.g., child/parent search results), muchless providing for the display of parent and/or child results in ahierarchical manner. FIG. 12 depicts an exemplary webpage 1200 includingsearch results in accordance with known prior art techniques. Webpage1200 includes an exemplary listing of search results 1202 that may begenerated in response to a map-based search query. As depicted, searchresults 1202 include an exemplary listing of four search results 1202 a,1202 b, 1202 c and 1202 d (collectively referred to herein as searchresults 1202) that may be provided in response to a user initiatedsearch for the “The Shopping Center”. Each of search results 1202includes general information corresponding to the search result. Forexample, search results 1202 a, 1202 b, 1202 c and 1202 d each include ahyperlink to a corresponding webpage, contact information (e.g., aphysical address and/or a phone number) and a uniform resource locator(URL) corresponding to the search result.

Some of search results 1202 include a listing of associatedterms/phrases. For example, search result 1202 b includes the associatedterms/phrases of “cup-of-coffee”, “no laptop”, “latte”, “great coffee”.The associated terms/phrases may include terms and phrases that arefrequently used to describe the search result, and may be derived fromsources across the Internet, such as reviews, web pages and other onlinereferences. The associated terms may be provided in an attempt toprovide contextual information to the user, helping them to quicklyidentify general characteristics of the entity corresponding to thesearch result. For example, after seeing the term “no laptop”, a usermay be able to quickly determine that the “Cafe Grumpy” does not allowthe use of laptops. As depicted, the keywords may simply include an“inactive” listing of keywords that are not selectable and/or do notinclude hyperlinks that can be selected to navigate to a correspondingwebpage).

In some instances, associated terms may happen to list an entity that isa child of an entity corresponding to the search result. For example,with regard to search result 1202 a, an associated term may include “ABCDepartment Store”, a store that is located within “The Shopping Center”.Although the associated terms may be based on various associations withthe search result, they do not appear to be derived from a hierarchicalrelation to the search result. For example, the term “ABC DepartmentStore” does not appear to have been identified based on a targetedsearch for child/parent entities related to the “The Shopping Center”.Accordingly, a user may not be able to reliably identify anyhierarchical relationship between the search result identified and theassociated terms based on the displayed search results. That is, themere presence of the associated text “ABC Department Store” does notprovide a reliable indication that “ABC Department Store” is locatedwithin the “Shopping Center”.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 1300 ofprocessing a search query. Method 1300 may generally include receiving asearch query, identifying search query results, determining whether ornot the search query results include a parent or a child search result,and where the search query results include one or more parent or childsearch results, identify children or parent results corresponding to theone or more parent or child search results, and generating anddisplaying hierarchical query results.

Method 1300 may include receiving a search query, as depicted at block1302. Receiving a search query may include a search server receiving auser search submitted via a search website. For example, a user maysubmit a search for “Shopping Palo Alto” via a keyword search field of asearch webpage or the like.

Method 1300 may include identifying search query results, as depicted atblock 1304. Identifying search query results may include searching asearch engine database/index to identify a set of results that arerelevant to the search query. For example, in response to a search queryfor “Shopping Palo Alto”, a search engine may search through entries ofa search index (e.g., table 200′ or index 1100) to identify searchresults that correspond to “Shopping Palo Alto”. In some embodiments, asearch engine may employ specific search algorithms to locate the mostrelevant results.

FIG. 14 is a table that illustrates an exemplary set of search results1400. For example, search results 1400 may include an exemplary set ofsearch results generated by a search engine in response to a keywordsearch query for “Shopping Palo Alto”. In some embodiments, the set ofsearch results may be ranked such that search results having higherlevels of relevancy are ranked higher than search results having lowerlevels of relevancy.

Method 1300 may include determining whether the search results includeone or more parent results and/or child results, as depicted at block1306. Determining whether the search results include a parent resultand/or a child result may include assessing each of the search resultsto determining whether any of the search results corresponds to a parentand/or a child entity. For example, with regard to set of results 1400,each of the search results may be assessed to determine whether or notany of the search results are a parent or a child search result. It maybe determined that a search result is a parent or a child search resultwhere a corresponding hierarchical index (e.g., database table 200′and/or hierarchal index 1100) lists at least one child and/or parent foran entity corresponding to the search result. For example, it may bedetermined that the search result for “The Shopping Center” is a parentsearch result based at least on database table 200′ and/or hierarchicalindex 1100 including identifiers of “N6”, “N7”, “N8” and “N9” beinglisted as children 216 for the entry corresponding to “The ShoppingCenter”. As a further example, it may be determined that the searchresult for “Clothing Connection” is a child search result based at leaston database table 200′ and/or hierarchical index 1200 including theidentifier of “N4” being listed under children 216 for the entrycorresponding to “Clothing Connection”. Accordingly, it may bedetermined that set of search results 1400 includes a parent result anda child result based at least on the assessment of the search resultscorresponding to “The Shopping Center” and “Clothing Connection”.Similar assessment and determinations may be made for each of the othersearch results.

Where it is determined that search results do not include at least oneparent or child search result, method 1300 may proceed to providing forthe display of the search results for display, as depicted at block1308. Providing search results for display may include displaying asearch results webpage that includes a listing of search resultscorresponding to set of search results 1400. In some embodiments, thesearch results may be displayed in a flat listing, similar to thatdepicted and described with regard to FIG. 12. For example, results maybe displayed in a ranked listing including one result listed after theother in the ranked order of search results 1400 and the displayedlisting may not include any visible indication of hierarchicalrelationships between the search results.

Where it is determined that the search query results do include one ormore parent or child search results, method 1300 may proceed toidentifying child/parent results corresponding to the one or moreparent/child query results, as depicted at block 1310. Identifying childresults corresponding to the parent results may include, for each parentresult of the preliminary query results, identifying a set of one ormore child results corresponding to the parent result. For example,“Dave's Electronics”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store”, and “TheShopping Center Food Court” may be identified as child results based atleast on table 200′ and/or hierarchical index 1100 including identifiersof “N6”, “N7”, “N8” and “N9” listed as children 216 for “The ShoppingCenter”. In database table 200′ and hierarchical index 1500, indicescorresponding to only four children are listed for “The Shopping Mall”for illustrative purposes, although any number of children may beassociated with a given parent entity. For example, “The ShoppingCenter” may include a total of one-hundred sixty-six childrencorresponding to one-hundred sixty-six stores located at “The ShoppingCenter”. Identifying parent results corresponding to the child resultsmay include, for each child result of the set of search results,identifying a set of one or more parent results corresponding to thechild result. For example, with regard to the child result for “ClothingConnection”, “Palo Alto Mall” may be identified as a parent result basedat least on table 200′ and/or hierarchical index 1100 including theidentifier of “N4” being listed under children 216 for “ClothingConnection”.

FIG. 15 is a table that illustrates an exemplary listing of child searchresults 1500. Child search results 1500 may include a ranked listing ofchild search results corresponding to the parent search result for “TheShopping Center”. Although only the four highest ranked child resultsare listed for illustrative purposes, a set of child search results mayinclude any number of child search results associated with a givenparent entity. For example, set of child results 1500 may include aranked listing of all one-hundred sixty-six child results correspondingto the one-hundred sixty-six stores located at “The Shopping Center”.

In some embodiments, identifying child/parent results corresponding tothe parent/child search results may include identifying a subset ofchild/parent entities/results that are to be provided for display inassociation with the parent/child search result. Where space on awebpage is limited, only a given number of the highest rankedchild/parent results may be identified for display. For example, withregard to set of child results 1500, only the three highest ranked childresults of “The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “Dave'sElectronics”, may be identified as child results to be displayed, atleast initially, in association with the parent search result for “TheShopping Center”.

Method 1300 may include generating hierarchical search results, asdepicted at block 1312. In some embodiments, generating hierarchicalsearch results may include combining the set of child and/or parentresults with the set of search results to generate a set of queryresults including a hierarchical query result.

FIG. 16 is a table that illustrates an exemplary set of hierarchicalsearch results 1600 including corresponding hierarchical search results1602. A first hierarchical search result 1602 a includes a parent searchresult 1604 b corresponding to “The Shopping Center” and a set of childsearch results 1604 c, 1604 d and 1604 e correspond to “The Suit Store”,“ABC Department Store” and “Dave's Electronics”. A second hierarchicalsearch result 1602 b includes a child search result 1604 f correspondingto “Clothing Connection” and a parent search result 1604 g for “PaloAlto Mall”.

Method 1300 may include providing for the display of the hierarchicalsearch results, as depicted at block 1314. In some embodiments,providing hierarchical results for display includes serving anddisplaying a webpage, or similar content page, that includes at leastone hierarchical search result.

FIG. 17 illustrates an exemplary search results webpage 1700 includinghierarchical search results 1702. Webpage 1700 may be generated, servedand displayed in response to a web-based keyword search query. Forexample, a user may enter and submit the search keyword “Shopping PaloAlto” via a search field 1703, a corresponding search query may besubmitted to a search server (e.g., a search engine), the search servermay process the search query to generate a hierarchical listing ofsearch results, and generate and serve webpage 1700 for display via agraphical user interface.

Search results 1702 a-1702 g may correspond to search results 1604a-1604 g of the hierarchical set of search results 1600. In someembodiments, results may include information for an entity thatcorresponds to the result. For example, the search results 1602 mayinclude a URL, an address, a phone number, business hours and the likefor an entity corresponding thereto. Results may include activehyperlinks (as indicated by underlined text) that are user selectable tonavigate to a webpage or similar location comprising contentcorresponding to the result. For example, a user may select the link“The Shopping Center” to navigate to the webpage for the “The ShoppingCenter” having a URL address of “www.theshoppingcenter.com”. In someembodiments, selection of a link may provide for navigation to aplace-page for an entity that corresponds to the result.

In some embodiments, the results include one or more search results thatare not parent or child search results (e.g., non-hierarchical searchresults). For example, result 1702 a may correspond to “Palo AltoShopping Center” which may not be a parent search result or a childsearch result.

In some embodiments, the results include one or more hierarchical searchresults. For example, search results 1702 include a first hierarchicalsearch result 1704 a corresponding to “The Shopping Center”.Hierarchical search result 1704 a includes parent search result 1702 b,and a set of child search results 1702 c-1702 e corresponding to “TheSuit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “Dave's Electronics”. As afurther example, search results 1702 include a second hierarchicalsearch result 1704 b corresponding to “Clothing Connection”.Hierarchical search result 1704 b includes a child search result 1702 fand a parent search result 1702 g corresponding to “Palo Alto Mall”.

In some embodiments, hierarchically related parent and child searchresults may be displayed in a hierarchal relationship to one anothersuch that a user can readily identify the child-parent hierarchalrelationship between the search results. For example, parent searchresult for “The Shopping Center” may be followed by an indented listingof child search results corresponding to “The Suit Store”, “ABCDepartment Store” and “Dave's Electronics”. The indented listing may belocated below the parent search result for “The Shopping Center” andabove the next search result for “Clothing Connection”. As a furtherexample, child search result for “Clothing Connection” may be followedby indented parent search result corresponding to “Palo Alto Mall”indicative of an inverse-hierarchical relationship that includes theparent visually displayed below the corresponding child search result.Although the illustrated embodiment includes an indented listing, ahierarchical relationship between search results may be indicated in anysuitable fashion. For example, a hierarchical relationship may beindicated via use of different fonts, font sizes, textual colors,arrangements, headings (e.g., “At The Shopping Center”) or the like.

In some embodiments, hierarchical results include only a subset of thecorresponding results. For example, hierarchical search result 1704 aincludes only child search results 1702 c-1702 e (e.g., “The SuitStore”, “ABC Department Store” and “Dave's Electronics”) displayed inhierarchical association with parent search result 1702 b.

In some embodiments, hierarchical results include a hyperlink to anexpanded listing of results. For example, hierarchical search result1704 a may include an expansion link 1706 entitled “See More at TheShopping Center (166)”. The expansion link may be user selectable toexpand the displayed listing and/or provide for navigation to a webpage,such as a place page for “The Shopping Center”, including an expandedlisting of some or all of the child search results corresponding to theone-hundred and sixty-six stores at “The Shopping Center”. Webpage 1700may include other content, such as a map corresponding to one or more ofthe search results, advertisements, photos and the like.

FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary search results webpage 1800 includingdisplay of search results 1802. Webpage 1800 may be generated, servedand displayed in response to a map-based search query. For example, auser may enter and submit the search string “Shopping Palo Alto” via asearch field 1803, a corresponding search query may be submitted to asearch server (e.g., a search engine), the search server may process thesearch query to generate and serve webpage 1800 for display via agraphical user interface.

In some embodiments, hierarchical search results 1802 are the same orsimilar to search results 1702 and may be displayed in webpage 1800 in amanner that is the same or similar to the display of hierarchical searchresults 1702 of webpage 1700. For example, webpage 1800 may includesearch results 1802 a-1802 g, including hierarchical search results 1804a and 1804 b displayed in a manner similar to that described above withregard to FIG. 17.

In some embodiments, webpage 1800 includes search results 1802 displayedin a left pane of webpage 1800 and a geographic map 1806 displayed in aright pane of webpage 1800. Geographic map 1806 may include a mapping ofa region corresponding to one or more of search results 1802. Forexample, geographic map 1806 may include a map of the geographic regioncontaining locations of “The Shopping Center”, “The Suit Store”, “ABCDepartment Store”, “Dave's Electronics” and “Clothing Connection” (asindicated by corresponding pins/markers 1808 labeled “B”-“F”).

In some embodiments, map 1806 includes an interactive map that, uponuser interaction with a maker 1808 corresponding to the given searchresult, provides an information window (e.g., bubble) corresponding tothe search result. For example, upon a user hovering over, or otherwiseselecting, a maker/pin corresponding to “The Shopping Center” (e.g.,maker 1808 labeled “B”) with cursor 1810, bubble 1812 may be displayed.In some embodiments, a bubble may include information for thecorresponding result. For example, bubble 1812 may include entityinformation (e.g., hyperlink, URL address, physical address, a phonenumber, business hours and so forth) corresponding to the “The ShoppingCenter”. In some embodiments, where the result corresponding to a givenbubble includes a parent/child result, the bubble may include acorresponding hierarchical result. For example, bubble 1812 may includea hierarchical result 1814 corresponding to “The Shopping Center”.Hierarchical result 1814 may include information that is the same orsimilar to that of hieratical result 1804 a. As a further example, if auser were to select maker “F” corresponding to the search result for“Clothing Connection”, a bubble may be displayed that includes contentsimilar to that of hierarchical search result 1804 b. Hierarchicalresults displayed in a bubble may be displayed in a hierarchal mannersuch that a user can readily identify a child-parent hierarchalrelationship between the result and related entities/results.

FIG. 19 is a flowchart that illustrates an exemplary method 1900 ofdisplaying content (e.g., a bubble) with hierarchical results. Method1900 may include receiving a selection of a link to content, as depictedat block 1902. Receiving a selection of a link to content may includereceiving a selection of marker 1808 labeled “B”. Method 1900 mayinclude identifying an entity corresponding to the link to contentselected, as depicted at block 1904. Where maker 1908 labeled “B” hasbeen selected, identifying an entity corresponding to the link tocontent selected may include identifying the entity of “The ShoppingCenter”. Method 1900 may include determining whether or not the entityis a child/parent entity, as depicted at block 1906. For example, it maybe determined that the “The Shopping Center” is a parent entity based atleast on table 200′ and/or hierarchical index 1100 including identifiersof “N6”, “N7”, “N8” and “N9” being listed as children 216 for the entrycorresponding to “The Shopping Center”. As a further example, where amarker corresponding to “The Shop” is selected, it may be determinedthat “The Shop” is a not parent or child entity based at least on table200′ and/or hierarchical index 1100 not including any identifiers listedunder children 216 or parents 218 for the entry corresponding to “TheShop”.

Where it is determined that the entity is not a parent or child entity,method 1900 may include proceeding to displaying the content, includinginformation about the entity, as depicted at block 1908. For example,where a marker for “The Shop” is selected a bubble may be displayed thatincludes a result for “The Shop” (e.g., a hyperlink to a website for“The Shop”, contact information for the shop, and so forth). Where it isdetermined that the entity is a parent or child entity, method 1900 mayinclude proceeding to identifying child/parent results corresponding tothe entity, as depicted at block 1910. Identifying child resultscorresponding to the parent results may include, identifying a set ofone or more child results corresponding to the entity. For example,where a marker for “The Shop” is selected “Dave's Electronics”, “TheSuit Store”, “ABC Department Store”, and “The Shopping Center FoodCourt” may be identified as child results based at least on table 200′and/or hierarchical index 1100 including identifiers of “N6”, “N7”, “N8”and “N9” being listed as children 216 for the entry corresponding to“The Shopping Center”.

Method 1900 may include displaying content including a hierarchicalresult, as depicted at block 1912. In some embodiments, displayingcontent including a hierarchical result includes serving and displayingcontent that includes at least one hierarchical result. For example, inresponse to the marker for “The Shop” being selected, content for bubble1812, including a hierarchical result for “The Shopping Center” (e.g.,including a parent result for “The Shopping Center” displayed inhierarchical association with child results for “The Suit Store”, “ABCDepartment Store”, and “Dave's Electronics”), may be displayed asdepicted in FIG. 18. Similar content may be provided upon the selectionof a link to content corresponding to a child entity. For example, wherea user selects a marker corresponding to “Clothing Connection” a bubblemay be served and displayed that includes a result for “ClothingConnection” and a parent result for “Palo Alto Mall” displayed inhierarchical association with one another in a manner similar to that ofhierarchical result 1904 b.

Method 1900 may be employed in various other contexts, such as upon auser request to navigate to a place page for a given entity. Forexample, upon a user selection of a hyperlink for “The Shopping Center”,it may be determined that “The Shopping Center” is a parent entity,child results may be identified and a place page including a listing ofthe child results may be displayed.

FIG. 20A illustrates an exemplary place page 2000 a including a set ofresults. Place page 2000 a may include a place-page for “The ShoppingCenter”. A place-page may include webpage that includes informationabout a particular geographic place (e.g., a business, point ofinterest, transit station, neighborhood, landmarks, city and so forth).A place-page may include contact information for the given place,photographs/images relating to the place, reviews for the place, and soforth. For example, place page 2000 a may include a place-page for “TheShopping Center” that provides information 2002 including a descriptor,address, phone number, a classification, hours of operation, reviews, abrief description, photos, a map and related advertisements. In someembodiments, a place-page is accessible via selecting a correspondinglink a map-based search. For example, a user may be directed to placepage 2000 a upon selection of the link for “The Shopping Center” ofsearch result 1702 b of webpage 1700 or and/or the link for “TheShopping Center” in result 1802 b of webpage 1800 or result 1814 inbubble 1812.

In some embodiments, a place-page that corresponds to a parent entityincludes a listing of some or all of the child or parent entitiescorresponding thereto. For example, place page 2000 a for “The ShoppingCenter” may include hierarchical result 2004 including child results for“The Suit Store”, “ABC Department Store” and “Dave's Electronics”. Insome embodiments, result 2004 corresponds to a set of child resultsidentified for “The Shopping Center”.

In some embodiments, a place-page includes a hyperlink to an expandedlisting of results such that a user can navigate to the expanded listingof results. For example, webpage 2000 a includes a link 2106 entitled“Click here to see more at The Shopping Center (166)” that may beselected to navigate to an expanded listing of some or all of theone-hundred and sixty-six child results corresponding to the one-hundredand sixty-six stores at “The Shopping Center”. Upon selection ofhyperlink 2006, listing of child search results may be expanded and/orthe user may be redirected to place page 2000 b of FIG. 20B. Place page2000 b may include an expanded listing of some, substantially all, orall of the corresponding child and/or parent search results. Forexample, place page 2000 b may include an expanded listing 2008including all one-hundred and sixty-six search results corresponding tothe one-hundred and sixty-six stores at “The Shopping Center”. In someembodiments, a user can unexpanded the results and/or navigate back towebpage 2000 a by simply selecting link 2010 entitled “Back toOverview”. A similar set of parent search results may be provided in aplace-page corresponding to a child entity. For example, a place-pagefor the “Clothing Connection” may include a parent search result for“Palo Alto Mall” displayed therein.

Promoting Parent Results Ahead of Child Results:

In some embodiments, results are arranged relative to one another basedon their hierarchical relationships such that results corresponding toparent entities are displayed more prominently than resultscorresponding to child entities (e.g., parent results listed above childresults). For example, in some embodiments, where a raw listing ofresults includes a mix of parent results (“P”) and child results (“C”)(e.g., C, C, P, C, P, C, P), the listing of results may be reordered togenerate a hierarchically ordered listing of results including theparent results listed ahead of the child results (e.g., P, P, P, C, C,C). In some embodiments, a listing of results displayed to a user maycorrespond to the ordering of the hierarchical arranged listing ofresults.

In some embodiments, a hierarchically ordered listing of resultsincludes results of search queries. For example, a hierarchicallyordered listing of results may be provided in search results webpages(e.g., similar to those of webpages FIGS. 12, 17 and/or 18) where theparent results are listed ahead of the child results.

In some embodiments, a hierarchically ordered listing of resultsincludes a listing of geographic locations that are user selectable foridentifying a user's current location. For example, a listing of resultsmay include a set of “check-in” locations, such as those provided byvarious location-aware mobile applications that enable a user to selectand publish their current location for viewing by other users, such asfriends on their social network. Notably, the acquisition of locationinformation can be subject to user consent, and can, for example, bediscarded after it is no longer needed. For example, the user may beprovided with the option to share their location, and to control theaccuracy and detail of what other can see.

FIG. 21 depicts an exemplary check-in page 2100 including ahierarchically ordered listing of results 2102 displayed via an accessdevice 2104. Hierarchically ordered listing of results 2102 includesresults corresponding to parent entities (e.g., “The Shopping Center”)displayed above results corresponding to child entities (e.g., “The SuitStore”, “ABC Department Store”, “Dave's Electronics”, “The ShoppingCenter Food Court”). For example, where a user is currently located in“The Suit Store”, and request to check-in their current location, theraw listing of results may include “The Suit Store”, “ABC DepartmentStore”, “The Shopping Center”, “Dave's Electronics”, and “The ShoppingCenter Food Court”, in that order. Based on the hierarchicalrelationships between the entities, the results may be hierarchicallyreordered to “The Shopping Center”, “The Suit Store”, “ABC DepartmentStore”, “Dave's Electronics” and “The Shopping Center Food Court” suchthat the result corresponding to the parent entity “The Shopping Center”is displayed above the results corresponding to the child entities (seeFIG. 21).

Methods 100, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, 1300 and 1900 are exemplaryembodiments of methods employed in accordance with techniques describedherein. Methods 100, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, 1300 and 1900 may bemodified to facilitate variations of its implementations and uses.Methods 100, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, 1300 and 1900 may be implementedin software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Some or all of methods100, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, 1300 and 1900 may be implemented by one ormore of the modules described herein, such as query processing module2212 depicted and described in more detail below with regard to FIG. 22.The order of methods 100, 300, 400, 500, 700, 800, 1300 and 1900 may bechanged, and various elements may be added, reordered, combined,omitted, modified, etc.

FIG. 22 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary query system 2200. Insome embodiments, system 2200 includes a server 2202 and an accessdevice 2204 communicatively coupled via a network 2206.

Network 2206 may include an electronic communications network, such asthe Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area (WAN), a cellularcommunications network or the like. In some embodiments, network 2206may include a single network or combination of networks.

Access device 2204 may include a device capable of communicatinginformation via network 2206. For example, access device 2204 mayinclude a personal computer (e.g., a desktop computer), a mobilecomputing device (e.g., a laptop or tablet computer), a cellularcommunication device (e.g., a cellular phone), a personal digitalassistant (PDA), or the like. In some embodiments, access device 2204may be client device of server 2202. In some embodiments, access device2204 may include various input/output (I/O) interfaces, such as agraphical user interface (e.g., display screen), an audible output userinterface (e.g., speaker), an audible input user interface (e.g.,microphone), a keyboard, a pointer/selection device (e.g., mouse,trackball, touchpad, touchscreen, stylus or the like), a printer, or thelike. In some embodiments, access device 2204 may include generalcomputing components and/or embedded systems optimized with specificcomponents for performing specific tasks. In some embodiments, accessdevice 2204 may include a computer system similar to that of computersystem 3000 described below with regard to at least FIG. 23.

In some embodiments, access device 2204 includes programs/applications2208 that can be used to generate a request for content, to providecontent, to render content, and/or to send/receive request to/from otherdevices via network 2206, such as client applications used forcommunicating with server 2202. For example, access device 2204 mayinclude Internet browser application that facilitates communication withserver 2202 and/or other entities of system 2000. In some embodiments,application 2208 may include modules having program instructions thatare executable by a computer system to perform some or all of thefunctionality described herein with regard to access device 2204.

Server 2202 may include a network entity that serves requests by cliententities, such as requests by access device 2204. Server 2202 may host acontent site, such as a website, a file transfer protocol (FTP) site, anInternet search website or other source of network content. In someembodiments, server 2202 may include a search engine. In someembodiments, server 2202 includes, or otherwise has access to, adatastore 2210, such as a database or similar data repository. In someembodiments, server 2202 includes a query processing module 2212. Queryprocessing module 2212 may include program instructions that areexecutable by a computer system to perform some or all of thefunctionality described herein with regard to server 2202. In someembodiments, server 2202 includes a computer system similar to that ofcomputer system 3000 described below with regard to at least FIG. 23.Although server 2202 is represented by a single box in FIG. 22, server2202 may include a single server or similar system, or a plurality ofservers and/or similar systems. For example, server 2202 may include aplurality of different servers and/or similar systems that may beemployed individually or in combination to perform some or all of thefunctionality described herein with regard to server 2202.

In some embodiments system 2200 is used to employ techniques describedherein. For example, a user 2214 may submit a query 2216 (e.g., a searchquery, a request to navigate to content via selection of a map marker ora hyperlink to a place page, a request to check-in their location, orthe like), server 2202 may process the query and serve content 2218(e.g., a search results webpage, a bubble, a place page, or a listing ofcheck-in locations, or the like) to access device 2204, and application2208 may render content 2218 for display to user 2214.

Exemplary Computer System:

FIG. 23 is a diagram that illustrates an exemplary computer system 3000.Various portions of systems and methods described herein, may include orbe executed on one or more computer systems similar to system 3000. Forexample, server 2202 and/or access device 2204 may include aconfiguration similar to at least a portion of computer system 3000.Further, methods/processes/modules described herein (e.g., queryprocessing module 2212 and/or application 2208) may be executed by oneor more processing systems similar to that of computer system 3000.

Computer system 3000 may include one or more processors (e.g.,processors 3010 a-3010 n) coupled to system memory 3020, an input/outputI/O device interface 3030 and a network interface 3040 via aninput/output (I/O) interface 3050. A processor may include a singleprocessor device and/or a plurality of processor devices (e.g.,distributed processors). A processor may be any suitable processorcapable of executing/performing instructions. A processor may include acentral processing unit (CPU) that carries out program instructions toperform the basic arithmetical, logical, and input/output operations ofcomputer system 3000. A processor may include code (e.g., processorfirmware, a protocol stack, a database management system, an operatingsystem, or a combination thereof) that creates an execution environmentfor program instructions. A processor may include a programmableprocessor. A processor may include general and/or special purposemicroprocessors. A processor may receive instructions and data from amemory (e.g., system memory 3020). Computer system 3000 may be auni-processor system including one processor (e.g., processor 3010 a),or a multi-processor system including any number of suitable processors(e.g., 3010 a-3010 n). Multiple processors may be employed to providefor parallel and/or sequential execution of one or more portions of thetechniques described herein. Processes and logic flows described hereinmay be performed by one or more programmable processors executing one ormore computer programs to perform functions by operating on input dataand generating corresponding output. Processes and logic flows describedherein may be performed by, and apparatus can also be implemented as,special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., an FPGA (field programmable gatearray) or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). Computersystem 3000 may include a computer system employing a plurality ofcomputer systems (e.g., distributed computer systems) to implementvarious processing functions.

I/O device interface 3030 may provide an interface for connection of oneor more I/O devices 3060 to computer system 3000. I/O devices mayinclude any device that provides for receiving input (e.g., from a user)and/or providing output (e.g., to a user). I/O devices 3060 may include,for example, graphical user interface displays (e.g., a cathode ray tube(CRT) or liquid crystal display (LCD) monitor), pointing devices (e.g.,a computer mouse or trackball), keyboards, keypads, touchpads, scanningdevices, voice recognition devices, gesture recognition devices,printers, audio speakers, microphones, cameras, or the like. I/O devices3060 may be connected to computer system 3000 through a wired orwireless connection. I/O devices 3060 may be connected to computersystem 3000 from a remote location. I/O devices 3060 located on remotecomputer system, for example, may be connected to computer system 3000via a network and network interface 3040.

Network interface 3040 may include a network adapter that provides forconnection of computer system 3000 to a network. Network interface may3040 may facilitate data exchange between computer system 3000 and otherdevices connected to the network. Network interface 3040 may supportwired or wireless communication. The network may include an electroniccommunication network, such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN),a wide area (WAN), a cellular communications network or the like.

System memory 3020 may be configured to store program instructions 3100and/or data 3110. Program instructions 3100 may be executable by aprocessor (e.g., one or more of processors 3010 a-3010 n) to implementone or more embodiments of the present technique. Instructions 3100 mayinclude modules of computer program instructions for implementing one ormore techniques described herein with regard to various processingmodules. Program instructions may include a computer program (also knownas a program, software, software application, script, or code). Acomputer program may be written in any form of programming language,including compiled or interpreted languages, or declarative/procedurallanguages. A computer program may include a unit suitable for use in acomputing environment, including as a stand-alone program, a module, acomponent, a subroutine. A computer program may or may not correspond toa file in a file system. A program may be stored in a portion of a filethat holds other programs or data (e.g., one or more scripts stored in amarkup language document), in a single file dedicated to the program inquestion, or in multiple coordinated files (e.g., files that store oneor more modules, sub programs, or portions of code). A computer programmay be deployed to be executed on one or more computer processorslocated locally at one site or distributed across multiple remote sitesand interconnected by a communication network.

System memory 3020 may include a tangible program carrier. A tangibleprogram carrier may include a propagated signal and/or a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium. A propagated signal may include anartificially generated signal (e.g., a machine generated electrical,optical, or electromagnetic signal) having encoded information embeddedtherein. The propagated signal may be transmitted by a suitabletransmitter device to and/or received by a suitable receiver device. Anon-transitory computer readable storage medium may include a machinereadable storage device, a machine readable storage substrate, a memorydevice, or any combination thereof, or the like. Non-transitory computerreadable storage medium may include, non-volatile memory (e.g., flashmemory, ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM memory), volatile memory (e.g., randomaccess memory (RAM), static random access memory (SRAM), synchronousdynamic RAM (SDRAM)), bulk storage memory (e.g., CD-ROM and/or DVD-ROM,hard-drives), or the like. System memory 3020 may include anon-transitory computer readable storage medium having programinstructions stored thereon that are executable by a computer processor(e.g., one or more of processors 3010 a-3010 n) to cause the subjectmatter and the functional operations described herein. A memory (e.g.,system memory 3020) may include a single memory device and/or aplurality of memory devices (e.g., distributed memory devices).

I/O interface 3050 may be configured to coordinate I/O traffic betweenprocessors 3010 a-3010 n, system memory 3020, network interface 3040,I/O devices 3060 and/or other peripheral devices. I/O interface 3050 mayperform protocol, timing or other data transformations to convert datasignals from one component (e.g., system memory 3020) into a formatsuitable for use by another component (e.g., processors 3010 a-3010 n).I/O interface 3050 may include support for devices attached throughvarious types of peripheral buses, such as a variant of the PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus standard or the Universal Serial Bus(USB) standard.

Embodiments of the techniques described herein may be implemented usinga single instance of computer system 3000, or multiple computer systems3000 configured to host different portions or instances of embodiments.Multiple computer systems 3000 may provide for parallel or sequentialprocessing/execution of one or more portions of the techniques describedherein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that computer system 3000 ismerely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of thetechniques described herein. Computer system 3000 may include anycombination of devices and/or software that may perform or otherwiseprovide for the performance of the techniques described herein. Forexample, computer system 3000 may include a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer, a tablet computer, a server device, a client device, a mobiletelephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile audio or videoplayer, a game console, a Global Positioning System (GPS), or the like.Computer system 3000 may also be connected to other devices that are notillustrated, or may operate as a stand-alone system. In addition, thefunctionality provided by the illustrated components may in someembodiments be combined in fewer components or distributed in additionalcomponents. Similarly, in some embodiments, the functionality of some ofthe illustrated components may not be provided and/or other additionalfunctionality may be available.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that, while various itemsare illustrated as being stored in memory or on storage while beingused, these items or portions of them may be transferred between memoryand other storage devices for purposes of memory management and dataintegrity. Alternatively, in other embodiments some or all of thesoftware components may execute in memory on another device andcommunicate with the illustrated computer system via inter-computercommunication. Some or all of the system components or data structuresmay also be stored (e.g., as instructions or structured data) on acomputer-accessible medium or a portable article to be read by anappropriate drive, various examples of which are described above. Insome embodiments, instructions stored on a computer-accessible mediumseparate from computer system 3000 may be transmitted to computer system3000 via transmission media or signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals, conveyed via a communication mediumsuch as a network and/or a wireless link. Various embodiments mayfurther include receiving, sending or storing instructions and/or dataimplemented in accordance with the foregoing description upon acomputer-accessible medium. Accordingly, the present invention may bepracticed with other computer system configurations.

It should be understood that the description and the drawings are notintended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but tothe contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents,and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the presentinvention as defined by the appended claims. Further modifications andalternative embodiments of various aspects of the invention will beapparent to those skilled in the art in view of this description.Accordingly, this description and the drawings are to be construed asillustrative only and are for the purpose of teaching those skilled inthe art the general manner of carrying out the invention. It is to beunderstood that the forms of the invention shown and described hereinare to be taken as examples of embodiments. Elements and materials maybe substituted for those illustrated and described herein, parts andprocesses may be reversed or omitted, and certain features of theinvention may be utilized independently, all as would be apparent to oneskilled in the art after having the benefit of this description of theinvention. Changes may be made in the elements described herein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as described in thefollowing claims. Headings used herein are for organizational purposesonly and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description.

As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in apermissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather thanthe mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). The words “include”,“including”, and “includes” mean including, but not limited to. As usedthroughout this application, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the”include plural referents unless the content clearly indicates otherwise.Thus, for example, reference to “an element” may include a combinationof two or more elements. Unless specifically stated otherwise, asapparent from the discussion, it is appreciated that throughout thisspecification discussions utilizing terms such as “processing”,“computing”, “calculating”, “determining” or the like refer to actionsor processes of a specific apparatus, such as a special purpose computeror a similar special purpose electronic processing/computing device. Inthe context of this specification, a special purpose computer or asimilar special purpose electronic processing/computing device iscapable of manipulating or transforming signals, typically representedas physical electronic or magnetic quantities within memories,registers, or other information storage devices, transmission devices,or display devices of the special purpose computer or similar specialpurpose electronic processing/computing device.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:receiving a search query; processing the search query to identify a setof search results; determining, using a computer, that the set of searchresults comprises a parent search result corresponding to a parententity; in response to determining that the set of search resultscomprises a parent search result corresponding to a parent entity,identifying a set of child search results comprising one or more childsearch results that correspond to entities that are children of theparent entity; and providing a hierarchical search results list fordisplay, the hierarchical search results list comprising: a firstlisting of search results corresponding to the set of search results;and a second listing of search results corresponding to the set of childsearch results, the second listing configured to be displayed inhierarchical relation to a displayed search result corresponding to theparent search result of the set of search results.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the second listing of search results corresponding tothe set of child search results is configured to be displayed in anindented listing below the parent search result.
 3. The method of claim1, wherein the second listing of search results corresponding to the setof child search results is configured to be displayed in manner that isvisibly indicative of a parent-child hierarchical relationship betweenthe parent search result and the set of child search results.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the set of child search results comprises asubset of child search results corresponding to the parent searchresult.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the set of child searchresults comprises a given number of the highest ranked child searchresults corresponding to the parent search result.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the search query comprises a keyword search query ormap-based search query.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving another search query; processing the other search query toidentify another set of search results; determining that the other setof search results does not comprises a parent search resultcorresponding to a parent entity; and in response to determining thatthe other set of search results does not comprise a parent search resultcorresponding to a parent entity, providing the other set of searchresults for display.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the other set ofsearch results is configured to be displayed in a flat listing ofresults.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining thatthe set of search results comprises a child search result correspondingto a child entity; and in response to determining that the set of searchresults comprises a child search result corresponding to a child entity,identifying a set of parent search results comprising one or more parentsearch results that correspond to entities that are parents of the childentity, wherein the hierarchical search results list comprises a thirdlisting of search results corresponding to the set of parent searchresults, the third listing configured to be displayed in hierarchicalrelation to a displayed search result corresponding to the child searchresult of the set of search results.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereina hierarchical relationship between entities is based on grouping ofentities into one or more entity groupings and mining hierarchicalrelationships between entities of the one or more entity groupings. 11.A computer system, comprising: one or more memories storinginstructions; and one or more processors coupled to the one or morememories and executing the instructions stored thereon in order toperform the following steps: receiving a search query; processing thesearch query to identify a set of search results; determining that theset of search results comprises a parent search result corresponding toa parent entity; in response to determining that the set of searchresults comprises a parent search result corresponding to a parententity, identifying a set of child search results comprising one or morechild search results that correspond to entities that are children ofthe parent entity; and providing a hierarchical search results list fordisplay, the hierarchical search results list comprising: a firstlisting of search results corresponding to the set of search results;and a second listing of search results corresponding to the set of childsearch results, the second listing configured to be displayed inhierarchical relation to a displayed search result corresponding to theparent search result of the set of search results.
 12. The system ofclaim 11, wherein the second listing of search results corresponding tothe set of child search results is configured to be displayed in anindented listing below the parent search result.
 13. The system of claim11, wherein the second listing of search results corresponding to theset of child search results is configured to be displayed in manner thatis visibly indicative of a parent-child hierarchical relationshipbetween the parent search result and the set of child search results.14. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of child search resultscomprises a subset of child search results corresponding to the parentsearch result.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the set of childsearch results comprises a given number of the highest ranked childsearch results corresponding to the parent search result.
 16. The systemof claim 11, wherein the search query comprises a keyword search queryor map-based search query.
 17. The system of claim 11, the steps furthercomprising: receiving another search query; processing the other searchquery to identify another set of search results; determining that theother set of search results does not comprises a parent search resultcorresponding to a parent entity; and in response to determining thatthe other set of search results does not comprise a parent search resultcorresponding to a parent entity, providing the other set of searchresults for display.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the other setof search results is configured to be displayed in a flat listing ofresults.
 19. The system of claim 11, the steps further comprising:determining that the set of search results comprises a child searchresult corresponding to a child entity; and in response to determiningthat the set of search results comprises a child search resultcorresponding to a child entity, identifying a set of parent searchresults comprising one or more parent search results that correspond toentities that are parents of the child entity, wherein the hierarchicalsearch results list comprises a third listing of search resultscorresponding to the set of parent search results, the third listingconfigured to be displayed in hierarchical relation to a displayedsearch result corresponding to the child search result of the set ofsearch results.
 20. A non-transitory computer readable storage mediumhaving computer-executable program instructions stored thereon that areexecutable by a computer to cause the following: receiving a searchquery; processing the search query to identify a set of search results;determining that the set of search results comprises a parent searchresult corresponding to a parent entity; in response to determining thatthe set of search results comprises a parent search result correspondingto a parent entity, identifying a set of child search results comprisingone or more child search results that correspond to entities that arechildren of the parent entity; and providing a hierarchical searchresults list for display, the hierarchical search results listcomprising: a first listing of search results corresponding to the setof search results; and a second listing of search results correspondingto the set of child search results, the second listing configured to bedisplayed in hierarchical relation to a displayed search resultcorresponding to the parent search result of the set of search results.